SAN FRANCISCO — Sun Basket, the leading healthy meal delivery service, today announced the hire of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Jessica Jensen, as well as new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Marc Friend, in a strategic move to bolster the company’s executive roster. The on-boarding comes on the heels of Sun Basket’s latest funding round, a Series E aimed at expanding the platform’s omni-channel offerings. Both Jensen and Friend bring highly valuable experience to Sun Basket having spent time at some of Silicon Valley’s top Internet and venture capital firms.
“I’m thrilled to have Jessica and Marc join Sun Basket’s team,” said Adam Zbar, CEO of Sun Basket. “Pairing Marc’s extensive background as a strategic CFO and venture investor, alongside Jessica’s deep expertise in brand marketing and the new social economy, I’m excited to work closely with them to make Sun Basket America’s favorite way to eat healthy meals.”
Jessica Jensen comes to Sun Basket having led high performance marketing teams at some of the world’s leading technology companies. Most recently, Jensen spent the last five years at Facebook, where as Head of Platforms, Products and Insights, she oversaw B2B Marketing for the social media giant’s largest platforms, including Instagram and Messenger. Before working at Facebook, Jessica served as the Global Head of Product Marketing for Apple’s mobile advertising platforms and was the GM of two Yahoo! consumer businesses, Yahoo Health and Shine, which she built into the largest women’s website in the US. Jensen’s role as CMO of Sun Basket will be focused on driving Sun Basket’s revenue growth, building an iconic brand, and creating strategic, omni-channel partnerships.
“It’s an honor to join Sun Basket at such an exciting time in its history. With the best product and a massive addressable market, I see a huge opportunity for us to gain significant market share and create the category-defining company,” said Jessica Jensen, CMO of Sun Basket. “We already deliver the best healthy meals in the country every day, and I can’t wait to lead our amazing marketing team as we expand our product offerings and deliver them to millions more people.”
Marc Friend brings to Sun Basket a wealth of financial leadership, with a unique background that brings together 20 years of experience as a strategic CFO at high-growth technology companies and as a General Partner at two of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital and private equity firms. Most recently, Friend was the Chief Financial Officer of PubNub, a SaaS platform focused on managing real-time applications and IoT devices. Before his time at PubNub, Marc was the Chief Operating Officer at Initio, an enterprise application development platform. Before his operating roles, Marc was a General Partner at Summit Partners, a $20 billion growth-stage investment firm, where Marc led their venture investing practice. Prior to Summit, Marc was a General Partner at US Venture Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms, which focuses on healthcare, consumer, and high-technology investing.
At Sun Basket, Marc will be responsible for architecting the company’s business model, strategic planning, M&A, and fundraising, as well as leading the finance, accounting and HR operations.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the extremely talented team at Sun Basket and for the opportunity to play an instrumental role in building a fast growth, high profitable business model,” said Marc Friend, CFO of Sun Basket. “Innovation and consumer delight are at the forefront of Sun Basket’s DNA, and I’m looking forward to getting to work.”
For more information about Sun Basket, please visit www.sunbasket.com.
About Sun Basket
Founded in San Francisco in 2014 by Webby-winner Adam Zbar and Chef Justine Kelly, former Head Chef at the Slanted Door, a James Beard Award-winning restaurant, Sun Basket is the essential everyday personalized eating platform that delivers the best pre-measured, organic produce, clean ingredients and easy-to-cook, delicious recipes weekly to your door. Sun Basket saves busy people the time of planning and shopping so they can eat their kind of healthy and feel nourished from the inside out. Personalized for your lifestyle and diet, Sun Basket provides globally inspired recipes in meal plans including Chef’s Choice, Paleo, Lean & Clean, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Mediterranean, Diabetes-Friendly, Quick & Easy, and Carb-Conscious meal plans. Based in San Francisco, Sun Basket is backed by top-tier venture capitalists. Dr. David Katz serves as Chief Science Advisor. For more information, please visit https://sunbasket.com or find the brand on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter.
